Symmetry in Sound @Curiosity Carnival, Oxford, Sept 2017

Symmetry in Sound is a modern version of an experiment that was done at the end of the 18th beginning of the 19th century by a German scientist called Ernst Chladni, demonstrating that if you vibrate a square plate with sand or salt on the top, these amazing symmetry patterns appear inside the plate.

The mathematics behind the resonances that we see can help solve one of the greatest unsolved problems – the Riemann hypothesis. Another interesting fact is that back in the 18th century Sophie Germain, a french mathematician who had to pretend to be a man in order to pursue her interest in mathematics, won the Paris Academy of Science Prize for explaining the mathematics behind Chladni’s vibrating plates.